


catch me (when i fall)

by yourmoon



Category: Lovelyz, SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Idols, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 18:33:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20412391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourmoon/pseuds/yourmoon
Summary: Sujeong loves the way she feels oddly tranquil when she is with Mingyu. Also, that kind of feeling when she knows he always catches her whenever she falls.





	catch me (when i fall)

**Author's Note:**

> (from prompts.neocities.org) Mingyu and Sujeong in a Skype/Discord call (webcam optional) when MIngyu falls asleep in the middle of it. Sujeong decides to let him sleep since Mingyu had a long day and she likes the sound of his sleeping. Bonus: if someone walks into Sujeong has fallen asleep too. Extra bonus: They won't stop saying how Mingyu and Sujeong 'slept together'. (it seems fun! So I give it a try).

It was summer evening in Seoul when it felt like the sun shone right above your head even though as a matter of fact, the sun was already setting down. The heat was unbearable that Sujeong still needed to fan herself even with the AC on. She was casually sipping her orange juice, hugging a bag of honey butter potato chips on her right arm. That day was Lovelyz’ day off, between festivals and Queendom’s recording, they were glad heavens let them breathe even though it's only for a day or two. The managers also called them in to practice for Alwayz 2 Japan. When they got one day off, most of them would gladly spend their time just stay at the dorm.

Jisoo went out to God-knows-where. But Sujeong bet she went to the PC bang, a perfect place for Jisoo to spend her free time. There was AC, snacks and of course PC for games. Jisoo would totally down for it. Kei was with her sister, she said they would go to a new café downtown which claimed to serve the most luscious macaroons in Seoul. They actually asked Sujeong to come with them. “We need to bring an expert.” Kei said. The corner of Sujeong’s lips twitching, tempting to nod in instant. To their surprise, Sujeong shook her head politely, making an excuse that she couldn’t handle the heat well if she had to step out from their cool dorm. But it wasn’t her reason why she refused. She actually was waiting for a call from someone.

It left her with the rest of the members in the living room. Jiae, Myungeun, and Yein were engrossed in a recent drama they were watching on TV, while Baby Soul sometimes remarked at some interesting scenes, munching grapes. (She wanted to keep healthy, she said. Or maybe because Sujeong had a bag of potato chips for herself). Mijoo was sleeping. _Literally_, laying on the floor and sleeping. She refused to sleep in her room because it was too hot inside.

Sujeong didn’t pay attention to the drama at all. Her mind was somewhere else and she kept checking her phone once in every minute. She wasn’t even aware that Baby Soul noticed her agitation.

“You’re going to call him?”

Sujeong snapped her head at Baby Soul, pointing her finger in front of her face as if she was asking “You’re talking to me?”. Baby Soul didn’t reply, shooting a glare which Sujeong interpreted as “Of course it’s you. I am looking at you.”

She let out a deep sigh, “No. I don’t want to bother him. He must be really tired practicing and preparing for their concert and comeback.” Sujeong was biting the straw unconsciously, thumbs kept tapping on her phone screen, expecting it to show a face she had been missing.

“So, text him then.”

“I did, but no reply yet. I guess he is still—” Her sentence was cut off when suddenly her phone lit up, showing a video call was coming. The display showed it was the person she had expected the most, _she had been missing the most_. She bolted from the couch in a heartbeat, placing her orange juice and a bag of potato chips in a coffee table, and dashed into her bedroom, leaving Baby Soul dumbfounded.

Jiae, who was distracted by the sound of her rushing footsteps, tore her gaze away from the TV and looked at Baby Soul for an explanation.

Baby Soul just shrugged and said, “Kids.” which was replied by Jiae’s snort.

As soon as Sujeong closed the door, she checked herself in the mirror, combing her hair in a hurry, hands reaching for a lip tint before she stopped in her track then a frown appeared on her face. _Why would I do that? It’s not like the first time he saw me barefaced._

She put her lip tint back and padded to her bed. Before the ringing stopped, she swiped right the green button to find a familiar face welcomed her.

“Mingyu!” She cheered, didn’t even try to hide her excitement.

Sujeong saw him smiled and waved his hand in front of the camera. His surrounding was pitch dark, which she guessed he was still in the car. She also could hear Seungcheol talking to their manager in the front seat (she knew because Mingyu told her the front seat was leader-reserved seat. Sujeong agreed on this since Baby Soul also had the front seat).

“I am still in the car on my way to the dorm. Probably 7-10 minutes or so.”

So she guessed right. Sujeong nodded and let out an “Ah, I see.” She watched Mingyu closely, who was struggling with his corgi neck pillow, the one he got from Sujeong on his 20th birthday. Even in dim light, she could see dark circles under his eyes clearly. His eyelids looked heavy, as she noticed he would blink rapidly to get rid of his drowsiness. When Mingyu found his comfortable position, head rested on the left side of his pillow, he stared right at Sujeong, smiling. But there was no twinkle in his eyes, like how he always had. Mingyu was tired, _extremely_ tired and Sujeong noticed it.

“You should go to sleep.” She suggested, full of concern.

“Ah why,” he whined, “I can sleep later. I want to hear your voice.”

Sujeong could hear his friend making a cooing sound in the background. It was almost two years of them being together, but her friends and his loved to tease them both, like a new high school couple (when of course they weren’t high schoolers anymore). Most of the time, Sujeong would blush. Meanwhile, Mingyu chose to ignore them and kept showing off his canine teeth at her.

“You look so tired. We can talk tomorrow.” She frowned and decided to add, “I guess?”

“See? You’re not even sure.” Mingyu adjusted his neck pillow one more time, “I can sleep later at the dorm. Now tell me how’s your day. Don’t worry they cannot hear you,” he tapped his AirPods twice and continued, “Your voice is all mine.”

Again, she heard they were making sounds, but this time it was more like _blargh_ sound, the sound they made when they were sick of Mingyu’s flirt.

Mingyu let out an actual “Hehe”, looked at Sujeong with anticipation. Sujeong sighed, a sign that she gave up. She leaned her back on a headboard, hugging her huge teddy bear, and then proceeded to tell him about her day.

The first thing that she told him about was, with no doubt, the new café downtown. She was all pouty when she whined how she wanted to go there with Kei and her sister. When Mingyu asked why she didn’t go with them, Sujeong was just blinking, eyes wandered around the room, avoiding eye contact. She came up with a hot-weather excuse. Even though she wasn’t sure Mingyu would buy it when she saw him raising his brows doubtfully. But Mingyu just okayed her, didn’t push her more to tell him the _actual_ reason why she didn’t go was because of him.

Sujeong told him excitedly that she learned a new dance yesterday. She had tried different concepts for every concert they held, but this time she challenged herself more with her junior’s new song, Love Is Over. It was an experimental dance practice during her breaks. But she couldn’t believe she mastered the moves only in two hours. (Sujeong heard Mingyu’s “Of course you did.” between her talk). She was about to tell him about her plan to drag Yein and Mijoo in her next dance practice when she saw Mingyu unbuckling his seatbelt.

“Arrived home?”

Mingyu nodded, “Wait.” The camera was shaking so bad as he grabbed his shoulder bag and opened the door. He lowered his phone, showing his chin on the screen.

“Now you’ll get to sleep?”

Mingyu brought his phone up to look at Sujeong. “Isn’t it unfair when you get to tell me about your day but I don’t?” He didn’t mean to snap, but Sujeong jumped a little at that.

He had a point though. His voice sounded so bitter and disappointed, making Sujeong felt guilty and said sorry. The dark circles under Mingyu’s eyes looked more apparent when he stepped into the elevator. Sujeong wished Mingyu wasn’t _this_ stubborn. She wished he knew that all she cared about was him.

There was an awkward silence between them when Mingyu didn’t respond to her apologize. Sujeong didn’t even dare to sigh. She knew and understood how exhausted he was and she just didn’t want to make it worse. Now it felt like she did. Pouting, Sujeong was caressing her teddy bear when Mingyu broke the silence, bringing her face up to find Mingyu’s apologetic eyes staring back at her.

“I am sorry.”

Sujeong smiled and nodded. All she could see was Mingyu’s face, but she heard the door being unlocked, followed by Seungcheol and Wonwoo’s voices arguing over whether they should cook dinner or go straight to bed. Wonwoo reasoned that they should cook dinner because they needed to recharge the energy they had lost. Seungcheol, on the other hand, insisted that sleep was the best choice for them to recharge their energy. Being a good leader he was, he reminded them that there was another full-packed day waiting for them tomorrow. He added that it was just Wonwoo’s excuse to fill the need of his stomach that couldn’t stop growling during their practice.

“I bet you don’t want to cook for us.”

Sujeong heard Wonwoo’s deep voice off-camera, making Mingyu looked up at him with his eyebrows raised, asking him to repeat his words.

Wonwoo repeated his words, slowly, word by word which was replied by Mingyu’s nod in a second, signaling that he already understood what Wonwoo meant. “I am not hungry though.”

The camera shook as Mingyu walked to his room, leaving Wonwoo grumbling alone in the living room (and also his bedroom since he literally slept in the living room). Before Mingyu could close the door, Sujeong heard Wonwoo shouted: “Tell Myungeun I said hi!”

Mingyu closed the door and tilted his head like a puppy. “They didn’t fight, right?”

“I guess no? Last time I checked Myungeun _eonni_ was religiously watching a drama on TV.”

Shrugging his shoulder like he didn’t care much about it, Mingyu plumped himself down on his bed, letting out a sigh of relief. Mingyu was stopped moving for a moment, just staring right at Sujeong’s eyes. Sujeong thought her screen froze, so she called out, “Mingyu?” just to make sure her connection was okay.

“Hey, do you mind waiting if I take a quick shower first? I feel so…stinky.” He said, casually sniffing his armpit.

Sujeong made a disgusted face, “Eww you stink.” She pinched her nose as if she could scent him in miles away. Mingyu burst into laughter looking at her. Perhaps her face looked funny, or perhaps her nasal voice sounded funny. Either way, Sujeong was glad she could make him laugh after his long day at work.

“Go take a shower. Do you want me to call you later?”

“No, no.” Mingyu panted in between his laugh, “Don’t end the call. I just put it here, grab my towel, run to the bathroom and I promise you less than five minutes later I will be here. With clothes on, of course.”

“Okay,” she chuckled. “I’ll wait here.”

Mingyu counted to three then shot himself out of the camera on four, leaving the white ceiling on the screen. After she heard the door open and close, Sujeong put down her phone and huffed. Her eyes landed on a cabinet in front of her, where she put a duck plush toy and some polaroid pictures of her and Mingyu. They almost got in a fight a few minutes ago. Sujeong was relieved she dodged a bullet just in time.

Her mind drifted back to three years ago as she stared at a duck plush toy, sitting comfortably on a cabinet. It was a gift from Mingyu, the day when she figured out that their feelings were mutual. Mingyu told her that the duck plush toy always reminded him of their first _actual_ meeting, when he asked her phone number (which she replied with her sister and manager’s number instead. That time was when the company still had her phone, she had no choice but to obey the company ridiculous rule). But they managed in some ways. As they grew together, they came into a realization that their feelings developed too.

Things were absolutely not easy in the last two years for them. When most people avoided dating in this entertainment industry because it would lead to nothing but trouble, both Mingyu and Sujeong with their bravado stepped into the game as if they challenged the world. It wasn’t a smooth journey, they were aware of how hard it was to juggle between works and dating. They could arrange their little rendezvous only once in a month, twice if they were lucky, thrice if the heaven was on their side. Even when they did meet each other, it wasn’t like any other couples who casually hanging around, hand in hand, stealing kisses between laughter, they couldn’t do any of that. Between their crazy schedule, they managed to always call each other, or at least text each other. They wanted to make sure that they were there, together, for each other. There was one time when they fought over trifles, (Sujeong didn’t even remember why they fought), but she remembered how they screamed to each other on the phone. A few days later, they didn’t talk, giving each other spaces and time to calm down and think. They were young and foolish, eventually, they realized it. It was funny how they both said sorry at the same time (both of them text each other, “Sorry. Can I call you later?” exactly at 1:15 p.m that day). There was one time when they were drowned in a deep conversation, pondering a thought, what would happen to them if someday their fans found out about them. Sujeong thought some of them would stay, some of them would leave. Mingyu, on the other hand, was so sure their fans would never leave if they truly loved them. He believed that their fans knew the boundaries between fans and idol, they would never step out of it.

“But what if,” Sujeong propped her chin in the palm of her right hand, eyes on her smoothie, stirring it with her straw. “What if, they make you choose between me and them?”

Mingyu nudged at her hand, his palm facing up on the table, casually giving a signal to Sujeong to put her hand on his. When Sujeong glanced at his hand and understood, she rested her hand on his, Mingyu squeezed her hand, his warm gaze was on her eyes.

“We will work it out. We can always work it out, both of us, together.” He said, smiling up at her reassuringly.

Sujeong huffed as she came back from her trance, sliding down until she fully laid on her bed, arms still hugging her teddy bear tightly. She had a lot of worries about the future. But when she was with Mingyu, she somehow found a way to calm down. She loved the way Mingyu always made her feel like nothing would ever go wrong when they’re together. It made her feel that they could get through anything as long as they’re together.

She was adjusting her pillow when she heard Mingyu called her name. She grabbed her phone in instant, not wanting to make him wait, and smiled as she saw Mingyu’s face back on the screen. Mingyu looked more ‘alive’ after he showered, though it didn’t make bags under his eyes disappear. The camera shook for a few seconds, the crinkly sounds of the comforter filled the room before Mingyu’s face showed up on the screen (again), smiling ears to ears as he brought his blanket up to his chin.

“I’m ready.” Mingyu said, excitedly as he started to brag about how funny his members were. With concert and comeback days were approaching, he spent his hours with the members, practicing nonstop. It was tiring for sure, but Mingyu amazed how he never failed to gain energy from his members. His eyes sparkled when he marveled about the diss-battle that Seungkwan and Dokyeom did. Mingyu was struggling between his laughter to mimic Seungkwan’s priceless face when Dokyeom killed him with a sarcastic remark that somehow sounded so un-Dokyeom-like. Seungkwan was usually rank #1 place when it came about sarcasm, that’s why he was caught off guard when Dokyeom best him.

“It was hilarious.” He said, finally when he was done laughing, rubbing the tears out of the corner of his eyes. Mingyu let out a big yawn not long after that, making her chuckled because she thought it was cute. He was cute, like a puppy.

“A lullaby for me, please?”

“Do I need to grab my guitar?”

Mingyu shook his head, “Your voice is more than enough.”

Sujeong looked up at the ceiling, her brain tried to pick what song she should sing. She finally decided to sing Oh My! (It was still perfectly vivid on her mind when Mingyu called her right away after she posted her cover on Instagram, how he said thank you and I love you for million times on the phone).

Sujeong started to sing when she found out Mingyu was staring at her, showing off his canine teeth, looking so satisfied with her choice. She saw Mingyu’s eyes fluttered slowly when she reached Jun’s part, drawing a smile on her face, it was cute of him how he fell asleep so quickly after he listened to her voice. His soft snoring didn’t stop her from singing. She knew Mingyu had fallen asleep completely, but she just wanted to finish the song. And she did.

“Sleep tight, Mingyu.” She whispered as soft as she could, not wanting to wake him up. Sujeong didn’t end the call. _She didn’t want to_. She loved to hear the sound of him sleeping, his breathing and soft snoring were somehow her lullaby. Without she realized, her eyes drifted closed.

***

“So, I heard you and Sujeong were sleeping together.” Jihoon spouted, falling a step behind Mingyu when they walked to the parking lot that day.

Mingyu swore he never whipped his head quickly like that and shrieked, “What???!”

Jihoon smirked as he kept his pace with Mingyu, “Yesterday when I walked in, you still held your phone tightly. Being a good friend I was, I tried to put it off so you can sleep comfortably. But then I saw Sujeong on your screen. So I thought, ah…I see. You have grown up.” Jihoon patted his shoulder, still smirking as he strolled faster and left him behind. “It’s okay, I won’t tell anyone!” He added, giving him a thumb up.

“_Hyung_… What, not like that. _Hyung_!” Mingyu was about to run for him when he was pulled by someone. He turned his head to find Dokyeom smiling up at him, _grinning_, a teasing grin.

“My friend is a grown man now. I am so proud of you, buddy.”

Dokyeom ran away, laughing loudly before Mingyu could throw a punch at him. 

Mingyu spent the rest of the day explaining to the members, _and_ managers, _and_ some staff who shot him "You and Sujeong slept together?" when they saw him.


End file.
